Briefly: The animated Madagascarspin-off movie intended to showcase the four scene-stealing pengiuns from that series now has a director. Simon Smith, who co-directed Bee Movie for Dreamworks, is now set to hold the reins on the film, which was fast-tracked back in March. That was when Megamind writers Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons were hired to script.

The penguins have proven to be one of the most popular aspects of the Mardagascar films and have already been given their own short, and an animated show on Nickelodeon. We still don’t have any new info on the story or casting for this one, but with a director in place that should all be announced sooner rather than later. [THR]